Dear Editor,
When the Americans vote in their next president to office he or she will be confronted with some very tough global challenges. It seems that there will be, as far as America’s foreign affairs is concerned, at least, very little time for any honeymoon for that next president.
It seems clear that the next US president will have a hard time dealing with Russia. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been in a state of flux. However, within the past few years, Russia, under its leader Vladimir Putin, has been on the rise again — and she has been expanding too.
Russia’s recent takeover of the Ukrainian territory of the Crimea is clearly Russia’s way of telling the West, and the United States in particular, that she is serious about halting any further North Atlantic Treaty Organization expansion into Eastern Europe. Her intervention in Syria, effectively saving the Syrian Government from certain doom, is also another statement to America: Syria is not yours.
Russia is also planning to re-establish its military presence in Cuba and Vietnam, in addition to her other bases in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, plus she is rapidly strengthening her armed forces. No doubt, the days when Russia is America’s laughing stock are over. Russia will no doubt be the biggest concern for the next US president.
Recently, a senior American government official conceded that there is nothing that the Americans will be able to do to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programmes. Being the world’s most isolated country, North Korea is virtually immune to sanctions. So the next American president will have to get China’s help if it wants to make any headway with that country, and that seems unlikely.
Talking about China, she has been aggressively pushing her claims in the South China Sea. Will the next American president be willing to risk a military confrontation with China over that area, when she is so unwilling to confront Russia in eastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean? I hardly think so.
In the Middle East, Iran is making no secret of her support for anti-American activities, particularly in the Persian Gulf, Yemen and Lebanon. Although there has been some cooling of relations between Iran and the US, the next American president will have an Iran that is headed by leaders who still consider America as “the great Satan” and Israel and her chief demon.
Plus, American global influence is weakening. Start with the Philippines, a former colony that now wants to have nothing to do with America, then many in Latin America who still view American foreign policy with suspicion, to North Korea that sees America as a joke; the next American president will surely have his or her hands full soon.
So, whether the Americans elect a president who many argue can be trusted to be a wreck, or another who many cannot trust not to be a wreck, the next American president will have some tough global challenges to deal with very soon.
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com
When the Americans vote in their next president to office he or she will be confronted with some very tough global challenges. It seems that there will be, as far as America’s foreign affairs is concerned, at least, very little time for any honeymoon for that next president.
It seems clear that the next US president will have a hard time dealing with Russia. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been in a state of flux. However, within the past few years, Russia, under its leader Vladimir Putin, has been on the rise again — and she has been expanding too.
Russia’s recent takeover of the Ukrainian territory of the Crimea is clearly Russia’s way of telling the West, and the United States in particular, that she is serious about halting any further North Atlantic Treaty Organization expansion into Eastern Europe. Her intervention in Syria, effectively saving the Syrian Government from certain doom, is also another statement to America: Syria is not yours.
Russia is also planning to re-establish its military presence in Cuba and Vietnam, in addition to her other bases in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, plus she is rapidly strengthening her armed forces. No doubt, the days when Russia is America’s laughing stock are over. Russia will no doubt be the biggest concern for the next US president.
Recently, a senior American government official conceded that there is nothing that the Americans will be able to do to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programmes. Being the world’s most isolated country, North Korea is virtually immune to sanctions. So the next American president will have to get China’s help if it wants to make any headway with that country, and that seems unlikely.
Talking about China, she has been aggressively pushing her claims in the South China Sea. Will the next American president be willing to risk a military confrontation with China over that area, when she is so unwilling to confront Russia in eastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean? I hardly think so.
In the Middle East, Iran is making no secret of her support for anti-American activities, particularly in the Persian Gulf, Yemen and Lebanon. Although there has been some cooling of relations between Iran and the US, the next American president will have an Iran that is headed by leaders who still consider America as “the great Satan” and Israel and her chief demon.
Plus, American global influence is weakening. Start with the Philippines, a former colony that now wants to have nothing to do with America, then many in Latin America who still view American foreign policy with suspicion, to North Korea that sees America as a joke; the next American president will surely have his or her hands full soon.
So, whether the Americans elect a president who many argue can be trusted to be a wreck, or another who many cannot trust not to be a wreck, the next American president will have some tough global challenges to deal with very soon.
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com